I made my way from the bickering crowd with a splitting headache. Thankfully, regardless of whether that Voss clansman wanted to cut me down or not, he wasn’t willing to start anything in front of all those people, and I was able to walk away unscathed.

  Well, unscathed was a relative term. I was still carrying a collection of nasty cuts and bruises, a split lip and swollen cheek, and a throbbing head ever since my breakthrough seemed to have started.

  It was a weird sensation, one that seemed to couple extreme discomfort with moments of clarity and calm. Energy was released from my core in waves of nauseating, dizzying discomfort, and my body seemed to then absorb the freed energy in waves of release that cleared the fog from my brain and allowed me to feel a brief moment of calm.

  I saw the whole fight play back in my mind. The necessary moments in which I’d done everything I could to survive.

  And within that series of events, I saw the moment in which I’d chosen to swallow my pride and act with respect, to give to Damian what he was offering me, despite my many misgivings.

  It was the key to something. That moment had unlocked a doorway within my mind and my body alike.

  That, and my body seemed to be reacting to the fight itself. The motions I’d made, the bones I’d strained and bruised, I could feel each of them in sequence, as if different parts of my body were activating in the order in which I’d utilised them to defend myself.

  The energy from my core was being taken by my bones. They were being masked in it. Absorbing it. Not only did I feel soothed, but there was something more there. They felt as if they were growing more dense in one place after another. More resilient.

  I had no control over the energy that flowed inside me. It did as it desired, and I was a passenger throughout my breakthrough.

  There was a point where I could no longer walk, and I had to lean over a small stream and purge my breakfast. There was a point where I gasped and heaved with the pain.

  But it was short-lived. It wasn’t like the agony I’d been through dying. It was calmer. More transient.

  And by the end of it, by the time I felt centred enough to stand and normal enough to walk… I felt stronger.

  I couldn’t exactly describe how. Perhaps tougher. Maybe I was more attuned with my body.

  It was something. It was somewhere between understanding and knowing, but not quite either of them. Truthfully, I didn’t feel like I knew anything. Like I’d answered any question. I was just as in the dark now as I had been the moment I arrived here.

  But perhaps I’d learned something about myself. The lengths I’d go to, and the lengths that I wouldn’t.

  That thought brought me comfort.

  Then there was the other, much simpler thought protruding out of me.

  I’d fought a sixth stage Tier 1 to a draw. A draw. Was that something to get excited about?

  Hell to the fuck yes. That guy had killed Cael Soulgrave with a single kick, or near enough at least. I’d managed to take him down! Even if I’d gone down in the process! And I still had the energy to walk away after! How many people at my level would be able to say that?!

  Not only that, but…

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory of the hushed voices following the fight. The initiates yapping and arguing about my ‘forbidden technique’.

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  It wasn’t forbidden! The guild elder said it was okay!

  But, yeah. Looks like I was gonna be known as the guy who kicked Damian Voss in the nuts during our honour duel. Ah well. Couldn’t be any worse than what I was dealing with already.

  I shuffled my way back to my quarters and clambered into bed. It was still the morning, but I was used to getting up late by now, and I definitely needed more rest after what I’d just been through.

  I was looking forward to seeing Amara again. I wasn’t sure exactly what the outcome of my duel meant for her whole situation, but I was sure it was a far cry better for her than me just losing.

  Well, hopefully it was.

  I thought of what the next stage of my journey might hold for me as I drifted closer to sleep. I had thoughts and ideas, but nothing concrete. Not yet.

  It was almost exciting. That feeling of not knowing what I’d have to do next to get by. I still had problems hanging over my head, and at least one of them was looking to hack off my body parts, so maybe it was strange or wrong to say that I felt excited…

  But still, this was more than I’d ever done in my previous life. I felt more alive here, struggling, than I ever had in my past…

  That didn’t mean I felt grateful to System for a second, though. Screw that guy.

  I was awoken only a couple of hours later by a banging on my door.

  I grabbed my jian and pulled it halfway out of its sheath before allowing the person to come in. Couldn’t be too cautious after recent events.

  When the agitated looking initiate on the other side of the door told me that I’d been summoned to meet with the outer guild leaders, I was almost certain feeling excited about that prospect was stupid.

  Didn’t change anything. Time to see what terrible thing they wanted. Probably to kick me out in disgrace for what I did to the honourable Damian Voss.

  If they tried to pull that card, I was immediately mentioning that he did it straight back and harder. I had witnesses, damn it!

  …speaking of which, walking still hurt. God, I felt sore all over.

  I followed the black-haired, ponytailed initiate through the main courtyard, then along the side of the far outer wall, leading me to a part of the guild I’d never seen before.

  Gilded banners and tapestries covered a large portion of the courtyards here, hanging from pavilions with depictions of golden eagles and ferocious claw marks. The buildings looked even more intricate and detailed than they did in the closer side of the compound, and it took me a moment to notice a massive gate sat in the centre of the middling wall that separated the inner and outer areas of the guild.

  A large lake sparkled in the distance, beyond which stairs led past spiralling towers towards a distant mountain peak, from which a waterfall cascaded down onto the lake below, which never seemed to overflow despite the constant stream of water.

  It was the kind of thing that seemed to defy the laws of nature entirely, almost definitely manmade and created by some Ascendant more powerful than any he’d seen so far.

  I had to stop just to marvel at it for a moment. The idea that a person could be so attuned to magic or nature that they could create something such as this boggled the mind. In the few seconds of me simply staring, I watched as small red fish crashed to the surface and glided across the air before gracefully entering the water once more.

  Then the initiate slapped me on the back of the head.

  “Hey! You dare keep the council waiting?!”

  I could already imagine how Cael Soulgrave would respond to words like those. Thankfully, I wasn’t Cael, and I just chose to ignore it.

  Well, most of the time I wasn’t Cael.

  I kept walking until we made it to a large pavilion that overlooked the lake from one side.

  There, sat upon the ground on one side, and on a set of ornate chairs on the other, were a whole group of people I didn’t recognise, and a couple that I did.

  Amongst the ones I did recognise: Damian Voss.

  When it came to the ones I didn’t recognise?

  Well, one stood out more than most. Mainly because she was sitting on a floating sword, rather than the chair she’d been provided.

  Everyone in the room seemed to gravitate around her.

  She beckoned me over with a finger. I swear my body moved of its own accord.